WASHINGTON (AP) — A former police officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Wednesday to 14 months in prison for joining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters, court records show.
Nathaniel Tuck and other Proud Boys, including his father, were among the first wave of rioters who entered Capitol grounds after the mob broke through police lines, according to prosecutors.
Tuck, 32, of Apopka, Florida, pushed past police officers to enter the Capitol and berated officers who were trying to hold off the crowd. He later posed with other Proud Boys members for a celebratory photograph outside the Capitol.
"Nathaniel Tuck prepared for and took these actions as part of a hand-selected group of Proud Boys members that openly discussed its plans for violence at the Capitol and intention to confront police who might try to stand in their way," prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly allowed Tuck to remain free until he must report to prison and begin serving his 14-month sentence. The judge also ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution, court records show.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Dozens of them were leaders, members and associates of the Proud Boys.
The president-elect has repeatedly vowed to pardon Capitol rioters once he returns the White House later this month. But he hasn't specified whether pardons would extend to rioters convicted of engaging in violence or destruction.
Tuck pleaded guilty in September to a felony charge of obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder and a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted area.
Prosecutors recommended a two-year prison sentence for Tuck, who was a member of the Proud Boys' “Space Coast” chapter based in central Florida.
From 2012 to 2020, Nathaniel Tuck served as a police officer, in Longwood, Florida, and then in Apopka. He joined the Proud Boys in 2018, prosecutors said.
Tuck told a federal probation officer that he quit his police job in October 2020 "because of the whole George Floyd thing," according to prosecutors.
Tuck was charged with his father, Kevin, who is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday. Kevin Tuck, 52, was a Proud Boys member and employed as a police officer in Windermere, Florida, at the time of the riot. The elder Tuck pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
The Tucks traveled to Washington, D.C., and attacked the Capitol with other Proud Boys members who also have been convicted of Jan. 6 charges.
Defense attorney William Shipley said Nathaniel Tuck didn't engage in any violence or damage any property at the Capitol.
"He primarily remained a singular member of a much larger group of individuals, and mostly observed the conduct of others," Shipley wrote.
The Proud Boys was a group best known for street fights with anti-fascist activists when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during his first debate in 2020 with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The group's former top leader, Enrique Tarrio, and three of his lieutenants were convicted of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election. Tarrio is serving a 22-year prison sentence, the longest of any Capitol riot case.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP